New research shows the smartphone market will rebound in 2024 after two years of sharp declines.

However, Apples Compared to competing Android phones, the iPhone played only a small role in this recovery. Data published Tuesday (November 26th) from IDC shows.

Global smartphone shipments are expected to rise 6.2% to 1.24 billion units this year, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. It’s a trend driven by “pent-up demand for device upgrades,” the research group said in a Press release.

And while this year marked a strong recovery for the smartphone space, IDC expects growth to slow to single digits starting next year and beyond, reflecting increasing smartphone penetration, longer refresh cycles, and a rapidly growing market for used phones.

“While GenAI continues to be a hot topic and a top priority for many vendors, but it has not yet significantly impacted demand and driven early upgrades,” said Nabila Popal, senior research director at IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

“While we continue to believe that GenAI will revolutionize the user experience in the coming years, further investment is needed to increase consumer awareness and introduce a “must-have” feature that attracts consumers to the store and this creates Supercycle what everyone is waiting for.”

Popal added that for now, IDC expects generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) smartphones to “take their place in premium flagship devices” and account for 70% of the smartphone market by 2028.

According to the report, Android phones experienced rapid growth of 7.6% this year in Asia (excluding Japan and China), Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, particularly in lower-end devices. This growth was crucial for the overall increase of 6.2%. In comparison, Apple’s iOS phones are expected to rise just 0.4% for the year.

“Despite record-breaking performance in emerging markets like India, Apple faces challenges Challenges in large markets such as China, the US and Europe,” the report said. “Looking ahead to 2025, the tide will turn as iOS is expected to grow 3.1% year-over-year, exceeding Android’s forecast growth of 1.7% over the same period.”

PYMNTS examined the race among smartphone makers attract consumers with AI earlier this month.

“One good thing about AI-powered apps is their ability to create personalized experiences,” Dmytro Tymoshenko, CEO of Noiz, which creates AI-powered summaries of YouTube videos, told PYMNTS. “AI is capable of analyzing data at very high speeds, which allows it to, for example, recommend content based on user preferences quite quickly.”